Apparatus for the charging of multiplaten presses



June 1968 K. BRUDER ETAL. 3,39,52

APPARATUS FOR THE CHARGING OF MULTIPLATEN PRESSES 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 14, 1966 Wm w fl w \rrk &

s s R mm o.5 W R A w g 985 ATTORNEY June 25, 1968 K. BRUDER ETAL 3,389,652

APPARATUS FOR THE CHARGING OF MULTIPLATEN PRESSES Filed March 14, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 l I u INVENTORS.

\ KARL sfiqosfi BY mu. rm HUSGES 9O ATTORNEY.

June 25. 1968 K. BRUDER ETAZ,

APPARATUS FOR THE CHARGING OF MULTIPLATEN PRESSES 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 14, 1966 w wvs mama WALTER misass g 9w ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,389,652 APEARATUS FOR THE CHARGING 0F MULTIPLATEN PRESSES Karl Bruder, Krefeld, and Walter Hiisges, Dulken, Germany, assignors to Firma G. Siempelhamp & Co., Krefeld', Germany, a corporation of Germany Filed Mar. 14, 1966, Ser. No. 534,231 Claims priority, application Germany, Mar. 12, 1965, S 95,919 Ciairns. (Cl. 100-137) Our present invention relates to apparatus for the charging of multiplaten presses and, more particularly, to presscharging installations having a multi-stage press-charging station onto which the individual pressable bodies are fed for subsequent transfer to the multiplaten press.

While multiplaten presses have gained prominence in recent years as a consequence of their increased output per unit time, such presses have been predominantly employed for the compaction of loosely coherent sheet material and for the compression of laminatable bodies. In general, the mats of loosely coherent material to be formed into fiberboard, pressed board, hard'ooard or the like and multi-layer bodies to be laminated into a unitary structure (e'.g. plywood and veneer composites) are fed to the platens of the press upon so-called charging plates which must be removed from the press subsequent to the compaction operation. Because these plates are relatively hot, massive and difficult to handle in general, their manipulation during the press-discharging portion of the cycle and the increased mass of the entire installation because of the need to support such plates have been serious drawbacks in the overall economy of the system. Furthermore, the plate-removal operation results in an interruption of the production flow and, in etfect, constitutes a block to the high-rate production of the boards or plates. While it has been proposed to employ, in place of charging plates or the like, multi-stage devices having conveyor belts adapted to move over and be retracted from the platens of the press, the apparatus involved is highly expensive and complex, and difficult to control. Thus, in a conventional press-charging system, the multi-platen press is flanked by a charging station with a corresponding number of vertically spaced stages while the goods to be compressed are successively deposited upon the latter stages by manual means or by raising and lowering the charging station with respect to a feed device or an intermediate storage station which can then dispose the bodies upon the charging station. When attempts are made to avoid the use of charging plates, however, various difiiculties ariseespecially when the goods to be pressed are laminated from relatively thin layers, are of profiled crosssection (cg. corrugated board, prefabricated wall-paneling sheets, ridged plates), and/or preforated or protuberant board. Such material includes veneered boards, plywood, doors as well as laminated sheet for construction purposes, profiled structural board and the like. When materials of the latter type are inserted into the press, their laminated structure or profiled configuration gives rise to consideable difficulties with respect to their sliding movement. Under these circumstances, the amount of time required for removal of the charging plates is relatively large by comparison with the time required for the pessing operation.

It is therefore, the principal object of the present invention to provide a device for the charging of the storage rack or charging station adjacent a multiplaten press for the simultaneous compression on a plurality of vertically spaced platens of compressible bodies, especially laminated materials.

A further object of this invention is to provide a device for the charging of multiplaten presses in combination with a storage rack having a plurality of stacked sheetreceiving elements respectively assigned to the platens of the press and corresponding in number thereto whereby the elements can be provided with the bodies to be compressed without the use of charging plates or the like.

A further object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for the charging of multiplaten presses of the general character described in which the duration of a press cycle is shortened considerably over press-cycle times equired heretofore.

Still another object of our invention is to provide an apparatus for the feeding of sheets individually to the elements of a charging station for subsequent transfer to a multiplaten press in which the transfer to the charging station is effected without difficulties arising from laminated construction of the bodies, profiled configurations thereof or the provision on the bodies of various protuberant and/or recessed formations, angular portions or preforations.

These objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter are attained, in accordance with the present invention, by an apparatus disposed adjacent the charging station of a inultiplaten press which can either be fixed or vertically shiftable as has been proposed earlier and which comprises a vertically shiftable feed plate adapted to receive the body to be transferred to the charging station, this plate being elevatable from a loading position in which the feed plate receives the body to be compressed and a discharging position at which the body can be advanced onto the respective charging-station stage. The present improvement resides in the combination with this feed plate of an abutment means disposed in the region of this discharge position of the feed plate and engageable therewith for defining a limited position of the feed plate carrying the body above the receiving surface of the respective stage of the charging station. The improvement further comprises means for shifting the laminar body on the feed plate onto the receiving surface disposed therebelow in the discharge position of this feed means. Thus, according to an important feature of this invention, an apparatus for charging the stages of a charging station disposed in advance of a multiplaten press with the pressable bodies, especially laminated bodies composed of relatively thin, undulating, bent or otherwise irregular layers of laminatable material-e g. plywood, veneer board, doors and the like which in cludes an elevatable feed plate disposed forwardly of the charging station and abutment rails disposed over this feed plate and forming a stop for the feed plate and the body carried thereby whereby the body is guided between the feed plate and the abutment rails onto the respective stage of the charging station but above its receiving surface, the laminated board being shifted onto the stage via a slide means engaging a rearward edge of the body. An important feature of this invention resides in the compresison of the body between the feed plate and the guide or abutment rails disposed thereabove in the discharge position of the feed plate so that the body is in effect clamped and thus advanced onto the respective stage of the charging station in an unobjectionable manner.

According to another feature of this invention, at least a pair of abutment or guide rails is disposed in the region of the discharge position of the feed plate and extends in D the direction of displacement of the bodies, i.e., in the direction of the charging station with a transverse spacing so that the slide can include a depending member projecting downwardly between these guide rails and engageable with the rearward edge of the body carried by the feed plate. Advantageously, the feed plate itself includes a plurality of longitudinally extending transversely spaced elements adapted to accommodate between them the relatively offset but correspondingly extending elements of a feed device adapted to extend between the elements of the feed plate and to deposit thereon the bodies to be successively mounted in the charging station.

Thus the conveyor elements can include conveyor rollers or bands which are spaced apart to permit the elements of the feed table or platform to lower between the elements of the conveyor devices. In this manner, it is possible to employ the conveyors described above as assembly systems for the stacking of the laminated board or the various preprocessing steps so that only the complete assembly is advanced onto the feed plate. The latter then elevates to pick up the body from the respective conveyor and compress it against the guide rails or subsequent advance between the stages of a charging station. Advantageously, the body is compressed to an overall thickness at most equal to the gap between adjacent stages of the charging station and, in any event, not more than this gap width.

An important advantage of the present invention resides in the fact that the bodies can be inserted without any dilficulty between successive stages of a charging station for a multiplaten press while the use of charging plates and the like is completely avoided. More over, the system permits the use of conventional conveyor systems at least for the disposition of the bodies to be compressed upon the feed table of the present invention. Inasmuch as there is no need to remove charging plates from the press, the entire press cycle is substantially accelerated.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following description, reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a side-elevational view, partially in crosssection and partially shown diagrammatically of a device for feeding laminated bodies successively onto the stages of a charging station for a multiplaten press;

FIG. 2 is an end view in the direction of arrow II of FIG. 1 of the system for transferring the bodies to the feed plate in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side-elevational view corresponding generally to FIG. 1 but illustrating another embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 5 is an end view in the direction of arrow V of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the device of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic elevational view illustrating a plant for the production of laminated bodies in accordance with this invention.

Referring first to FIG. 7, it will be seen that an installation for the production of laminated sheet material such as plywood, veneer, composite board, doors and the like wherein a multiplicity of stacked relatively thin and, possibly, wrinkled undulating or wavy layers are bonded together under heat and pressure can comprise a multiplaten press 100 as illustrated diagrammatically in FIG. 7. This press is provided with a frame structure 101 supporting the stationary head plate 102 and a plurality of vertically spaced heated platens 103 between the head plate 102 and a vertically shiftable bed plate 104. The latter is cradled in the lower members 105 of the frame structure and is vertically movable via hydraulic means represented by a piston 106 and a cylinder 107. Advantageously, the platens 103 can be coupled together via a simultaneous closure device of the type illustrated in US. Patents Nos. 3,050,777 and 3,209,405 issued re spectively to E. Siempelkamp and Kurt Loewenfeld. The platens, bed plate and head plate can be constructed and heated as disclosed, for example, in the commonly assigned patent application Ser. No. 192,040, filed May 1, 1962 and issued Mar. 22, 1966 as US. Patent No. 3,241,189 to E. Siempelkamp.

The platens of the press are supplied simultaneously with the laminated-sheet bodies from a charging station 110 which comprises a storage rack 111 whose individual stages 112 have a spacing corresponding to that of the platens 103 in the open condition of the press and are equal in number to the press levels. The rack 111 is vertically shiftable in a wall 113 adjacent the press by hydraulic means represented by a piston 114 and its cylinder 115. In the fully elevated position of the rack 111, each of the stages 112 is aligned with the bed plate 104 or a respective platen 103 of the press so that the laminated sheet bodies can be simultaneously shifted into the press by, for example, means of the type described in the commonly assigned copending application Ser. No. 408,122, filed Nov. 2, 1964 by Kurt Loewenfeld or even the systems described and illustrated in US. Patents Nos. 3,050,200 and 3,077,271. The multilayer bodies are formed upon a conveyor (shown in dotdash lines in FIG. 7) with the aid of which each multilayer stack can be assembled by passing through a succession of stations at which, for example, the lowest veneer or finishing layer is initially disposed upon the conveyor 120 to be followed by successive or filler layers and the final veneer or finishing layer each coated with a thermally settable glue or sprayed or otherwise coated with the glue after stacking. The uncompacted stack is transferred to a feed conveyor which, as will be described in greater detail hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 4-6, is composed of a plurality of transversely spaced narrow conveyor elements between which the conveyor elements of conveyor 120 pass at the rearward end 131 of conveyor 130 to effect a smooth transfer. The conveyor 130 passes between the longitudinally extending but transversely spaced elements 132 of a feed plate or table adapted to pick up the bodies in the lowered position of this table and elevate them successively to compress them against a multiplicity of transversely spaced guide rails 133 mounted above the table 132. Above the abutment rails 133, we disposed further guide rails 134 upon which a slider 135 of the shifting means is mounted. The depending arm 136 of the shifting means passes between the rails 133 against which the multilayer body is compressed to compact the stack to a width sulficiently small to permit it to pass with ease onto the respective stage 112 aligned with the assembly 132, 133 for disposing the laminated bodies upon the charging rack 111. The arm 136 engages the rear most extremity of the laminated body 137 upon the table 132 so as to advance it between the elements of table 132 and the elements of rail 133 under compression into the charging station. A drive 138 is provided to displace the slider 135 and can be a hydraulic automatic cylinder arrangement controlled by a sequencing regulator 139 as represented by the dot-dash line 140. The feed table 132 has its elements pivotally secured in a parallelograrnmatic linkage to the parallel bars 141, 142, a pair of such bars being individual to each of the feed table elements. All the bars 141 are keyed to a shaft 143 while all the bars 142 are keyed to a shaft 144 journaled in a support 145 below the conveyor 130. The parallelogrammatic linkage thus swings between a lower horizontal position in which the table 132 lies parallel to but slightly below the plane of the supporting surface 146 of the conveyor 130, and an uppper position illustrated in solid lines in FIG. 7 in which it is aligned with and parallel to a respective stage 112a of the charging rack. The means for raising and lowering the table 132 is illustrated diagrammatically as a hydraulic piston-and-cylinder arrangement 147 which is pivoted at 148 to a bar 149 rigid with one of the links 141. The piston-and-cylinder arrangement 147 is coupled with the sequencing controller 139 as rep resented by the dot-dash line 150, the controller simultaneously regulating the operating steps of the cylinder 115 of the charging station 110 (dot-dash line 151) and being, in turn, controlled by the conveyor 120 (dot-dash line 152) in accordance with the advance of the multilayer uncompressed bodies thereon. The sequencer, moreover, operates the conveyor 130 (dot-dash line 153) in the proper cadence to ensure delivery of the multilayer slabs to the platform 132 only when the latter is in its lowered position. Thus the sequencer 139 performs the following operations in succession, assuming the charging rack 111 to be initially in its lowermost position:

(1) Transfer a multilayer uncompressed body from the conveyor 120 to the conveyor 130 with the platform 132 having its receiving surface 160 just below the supporting surface 146 of the conveyor 130;

(2) shift the multilayer body over the platform 132 in this lowered position thereof;

(3) raise the table 132 by operating cylinder 147 to compress the slab 137 against the rails 133 and align the surface 160 of the table with or dispose it slightly above the receiving surface 11211 of the uppermost stage of the rack 111 in its lowered position;

(4) advance the slide 135 to transfer the compressed slab 137 onto the aforementioned surface of the uppermost stage while maintaining the transverse pressure thereon between the table 132 and the guide rails 133;

(5) retracting the slide 135 and lowering the table 132 while raising the rack 111 by a distance equal to the height of one stage; and

(6) repeating this sequence of operations until the entire storage rack is loaded and disposed in an elevated position with its stages respectively aligned with the platens of press 100.

Thereafter, upon opening of the press and removal of the completed boards, the prepared bodies upon the storage rack 111 are simultaneously advanced into the press and the storage rack then lowered to begin anew the cycle l-6 described above.

Referring now to FIG. 1 in which we show an elevatable table and a modified feed conveyor, it will be seen that the stages 1 of a charging station (here shown to have only three levels) register horizontally and longitudinally with the space between the elevatable table 3 and the guide rails 4, this space being filled with the laminated mass 2 which is compressed between the anvillike guide rails 4 and the pressure plate 3. The body 2 can be any multilayer mass but of special interest are stacked bodies composed at least at their outer portions of layers of wrinkled corrugated undulating or other uneven material and which contain fillers to which these outer layers are bonded. By compressing the body as described, it is possible to compact it so that it passes easily onto the respective stages of the charging station and the fine relatively thin outer layers do not catch onto edges of the charging station or the press. For this purpose, the guide rails 4 form an abutment essentially coplanar with the surface 1' along the underside of the next-higher charging-station stage; when the charging station or storage rack is stationary so that the plates may be drawn into the press by flexible layers temporarily overlying the receiving. surfaces of the charging station (see commonly assigned copending application Ser. No. 508,653 of Nov. 19, 1965), the abutment 4 can be vertically together with the rail 7 successively into alignment with the several stages of the press. It will be understood, however, that shifting of the charging station enables the rails 4 and 7 (corresponding to the rails 133, 134 of FIG. 7) to be fixedly positioned.

In the upper position of the table 3 (FIGS. 1, 2B and 3), the rear edge of the body 2 is engaged by a slide 5 whose arms 6 project downwardly between the rails 7 and guide elements 4 and bear against the rearward end of the body 2. As can be seen in FIG. 2B, the guide means 4, which forms an abutment for the upper surface of the body 2, is relatively planar and comprises a plurality of transversely spaced generally flat longitudinally extending elements 4a, 4b and 4c between which the heads 18 of the plate transfer sliders 5, 6 extend. The rails 7 are correspondingly spaced transversely.

As can be seen from FIGS. 2A and 3, the table 3 comprises a plurality of individual longitudinally extending elements 8, 9, 10 and 11 which run in the direction of displacement of the body 2 and are receivable and lowerable between the transport elements of a conveyor means 12. In this embodiment, the conveyor means 12 comprises a planar array of rollers 13 journaled for rotation between the elements 8-11 and adapted to receive (arrow 13a) from further conveyor means such as that represented at and in a direction proper to the direction of movement of the plates 2 into the charging station, a succession of many-layer bodies. In the arrangement illustrated diagrammatically in FIGS. 4-6, however, the conveyor means 212 comprises a plurality of longitudinally extending transversely spaced endless conveyors 14 whose rollers are journaled upon slender supports as illustrated in FIG. 5 at 14' and between which pass the individual elements 8-11 of the table. In the embodiment of FIGS. 1-3, the feed means corresponding to conveyor 120 is illustrated diagrammatically at 15 while the feed means for the system of FIGS. 4-6 is designated at 215 in FIG. 6, the plates being fed longitudinally (arrow 14a) to the conveyor elements 14. The rollers of the conveyors 14 can be V-belt pulleys while the conveyor belts themselves may be V-belts with their fiat surfaces lying in a common horizontal plane.

The elements 8-11 are shiftable generally in the direction of arrow 16 via the links 17 which correspond to the bars 141, 142 described with respect to FIG. 7. As can be seen in broken lines in FIGS. 4, 2A and 5A, the table 3 in its lowered position lies just below the receiving surfaces 13b and 14b of the respective conveyors and then is raised to a position wherein its receiving surfaces 3a is coplanar with or disposed slightly above the receiving surface 1 of the respective stage of the charging station. The plates 18 of the sliders 5 and 6 extend beyond the bodies 2 and through the gaps between the respective elements of table 3 and guide means 4 as shown at 19 so as to ensure the entrainment of the bodies 2 over their full thickness in all discharge positions (i.e. alignment with each of the charging-station stages) of the table 3.

The invention described and illustrated is believed to admit of many modifications within the ability of persons skilled in the art, all such modifications being considered within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In an apparatus for the charging of a multiplaten press, in combination:

a vertically shiftable charging station disposed adjacent said press and having a plurality of vertically spaced stages for receiving respective bodies to be compressed in said press and delivering said bodies to said platens thereof;

means forming an infeed surface for a succession of said bodies;

an elevatable feed table adjacent said charging station and shiftable between a lower position for lifting a body from said infeed surface and an upper position for discharging a body located on said table onto a respective stage of said charging station;

guide means above said table and forming a stop therefor at said upper position while engaging a body thereon from above whereby said body is precompressed between said table and said guidemeans; and

shifting means engageable with said body disposed between said table and said guide means in the upper position thereof for advancing the body between said guide means and said table into said charging station and upon the respective stage thereof.

2. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein said guide means comprises a plurality of transversely spaced elongated abutment elements defining an abutment plane for the body on said table and extending longitudinally in the direction of advance thereof into said charging station, said shifting means including at least one arm extending downwardly between said elements into engagement with a body carried by said table.

3. The combination defined in claim 2 wherein said shifting means comprises rail means above said guide means and extending parallel to said elements, and a slider mounted upon said rail means and provided with said arm, said arm engaging a rearward end of a body disposed on said table in the upper position thereof.

4. The combination defined in claim 3 wherein said table is provided with a gap extended longitudinally in said direction and said arm is formed with an engagement plate extending perpendicularly to said table through said gap for entrainment of bodies carried by said table in a plurality of relatively upper positions thereof. I

5. The combination defined in claim 1 which further comprises feed-conveyor means for depositing said bodies successively upon said table in said lower position.

6. The combination defined in claim 5 wherein said feed-conveyor means comprises a plurality of conveyor members spaced apart transversely to the direction of displacement of said bodies thereby, said table comprising a plurality of longitudinally extending transversely spaced elements lowerable between said conveyor members in said lower position of said table and defining a receiving surface for said bodies lying below the delivery surface of said feed-conveyor means in said lower position of said table whereby said table upon elevation removes each body in succession from said feed-conveyor means.

7. The combination defined in claim 6 wherein said feed-conveyor means is formed by a plurality of endlessband conveyors extending in the direction of advance of said bodies by said shifting means and said elements of said table are spaced apart transversely of said direction to accommodate said conveyors between them.

8. The combination defined in claim 6 wherein said feed-conveyor means supplies said bodies to said table in a direction transverse to the direction of advance of said bodies by said shifting means and said elements are spaced apart in the direction of advance of said bodies by said shifting means.

9. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein said table is provided with a parallelogrammatic linkage maintaining it parallel to itself upon movement between said upper and lower positions.

10. The combination defined in claim 1 for the compression of laminated bodies having relatively thin wrinkled or corrugated layers, further comprising a support; at least one pair of mutually parallel links pivotally connecting said table with said support in a parallelogrammatic linkage maintaining said table in a horizontal orientation upon movement between said positions, said table being formed with a plurality of longitudinally extending transversely spaced openings; feed-conveyor means for delivering said bodies successively to said table in a direction parallel to said openings, said feed-conveyor means comprising a plurality of transversely spaced conveyor members receivable in said openings to permit said table to sink below the surface of said conveyor means in said lower position, said guide means including a plurality of flat transversely spaced elements lying in a horizontal plane parallel to said table and extending longitudinally in the direction of advance of said bodies by said shifting means, said shifting means including a rail disposed above said elements and parallel thereto, a slide movable along said rail, and an arm depending from said slide elements for engagement with a 'rear edge of a body disposed upon said table in said upper position thereof; and mechanism for aligning said guide means successively with the respective stages of said charging station.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,883,705 4/1959 Hartley -196 XR 3,019,478 2/1962 Erickson et al 184 3,068,512 12/1962 Van Houten 2l416.4 XR 3,173,976 3/1965 Paerels et a1. 18--4 ROBERT G. SHERIDAN, Primary Examiner.

R. B. JOHNSON, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN AN APPARATUS FOR THE CHARGING OF A MULTIPLATEN PRESS, IN COMBINATION: A VERTICALLY SHIFTABLE CHARGING STATION DISPOSED ADJACENT SAID PRESS AND HAVING A PLURALITY OF VERTICALLY SPACED STAGES FOR RECEIVING RESPECTIVE BODIES TO BE COMPRESSED IN SAID PRESS AND DELIVERING SAID BODIES TO SAID PLATENS THEREOF; MEANS FORMING AN INFEED SURFACE FOR A SUCCESSION OF SAID BODIES; AN ELEVATABLE FEED TABLE ADJACENT SAID CHARGING STATION AND SHIFTABLE BETWEEN A LOWER POSITION FOR LIFTING A BODY FROM SAID INFEED SURFACE AND AN UPPER POSITION FOR DISCHARGING A BODY LOCATED ON SAID TABLE ONTO A RESPECTIVE STAGE OF SAID CHARGING STATION; 